Saginaw Township residents and officials are watching for the wrecking ball that will demolish a former Farmer Jack grocery store toward efforts at resurrecting the shopping plaza.

"I've spotted a couple of contractors getting ready for it, taking away some (old scrap and debris) from the old Farmer Jack," said Rob Grose, township assistant manager. "They pulled a demolition permit last month, so they're probably waiting for the weather to break. There is still a lot of snow left out there."

Melanie Sochan | The Saginaw NewsTodd Joyce, 45, of Clarkston and a foreman with Promar Construction in Clarkston, uses a forklift to remove some of the building facade at Green Acres Plaza on State Street in Saginaw Township on Friday afternoon.

Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. plans to break ground this spring on a 76,000-square-foot outlet, making it the largest in the Tri-Cities.

Green Acres' owner, Centro Properties Group of Melbourne, Australia, said it has a 20-year lease with Kroger. The multimillion-dollar project includes a pharmacy, Starbucks coffeehouse, four-pump gasoline station, new facade, landscaped traffic islands and walkways.

So far, construction crews have done some repaving, installed new lighting and started removing parts of the facade.

A Rite Aid Corp. drug store opened last month after relocating from within the plaza to a stand-alone,14,400-square-foot outlet at State and Hemmeter. The pharmacy invested about $3 million in the store, which features food, expanded cosmetics and hardware.

"I'd say within the next two to three weeks, they'll start the Farmer Jack demolition," Grose said.

Green Acres Plaza, founded nearly 50 years ago, once touted more than 30 stores with Farmer Jack as its anchor. The grocery, however, closed three years ago, adding to the list of stores in the plaza that exited in previous years. Fewer than a dozen stores remain.